Seriously asking, i seen “females” and “males” used everywhere including here, is it not ok? I was under impression that in English those are neutral words (unlike in Polish where its very insulting when used for humans).
The problem is that a lot of misogynists will use “females” to describe women and “men” to describe men. I don’t use reddit anymore but there was a subreddit about this very thing called r/MenAndFemales
Think about it in a similar vein to the word jew. You can tell exactly when someone is using it as a noun specifically to be offensive. There also are ways you wouldn’t normally use those words very often if you aren’t a bigot.
Technically - yes, those terms are generally neutral. They still are, but are less used in direct reference to humans. men and women are the more common terms, male and female more used for animals, biology, etc. IE, I am a man, my pet is a male, I have male genitalia.
However, a particular subsection of people have taken to leaning into that dynamic and referring to women as “females” as a dehumanization tactic, an attempt to make them lesser than, insinuating they’re animals/pets (females instead of women.) Its become common enough of a thing to be a cultural point, so now most people tend to be immediately suspicious of people who do so, at least on the internet.
Depends on the context. In formal scientific or academic writing it’s perfectly normal to use this language for humans. In most casual settings though, dudes who say “female” in lieu of where most would say “woman” is a bit of a red flag. Betrays an unfamiliarity with women and an “otherness”, like they are some weird test subject they observe from afar and take notes about.
Seriously asking, i seen “females” and “males” used everywhere including here, is it not ok? I was under impression that in English those are neutral words (unlike in Polish where its very insulting when used for humans).
The problem is that a lot of misogynists will use “females” to describe women and “men” to describe men. I don’t use reddit anymore but there was a subreddit about this very thing called r/MenAndFemales
Ty for answer
Think about it in a similar vein to the word jew. You can tell exactly when someone is using it as a noun specifically to be offensive. There also are ways you wouldn’t normally use those words very often if you aren’t a bigot.
Or the word “gay” lmao
Technically - yes, those terms are generally neutral. They still are, but are less used in direct reference to humans. men and women are the more common terms, male and female more used for animals, biology, etc. IE, I am a man, my pet is a male, I have male genitalia.
However, a particular subsection of people have taken to leaning into that dynamic and referring to women as “females” as a dehumanization tactic, an attempt to make them lesser than, insinuating they’re animals/pets (females instead of women.) Its become common enough of a thing to be a cultural point, so now most people tend to be immediately suspicious of people who do so, at least on the internet.
Ty for answer
Depends on the context. In formal scientific or academic writing it’s perfectly normal to use this language for humans. In most casual settings though, dudes who say “female” in lieu of where most would say “woman” is a bit of a red flag. Betrays an unfamiliarity with women and an “otherness”, like they are some weird test subject they observe from afar and take notes about.